Life-changing moments rarely are planned, which is why many times they go unrecognized until months or even years later.

As a 5-year-old, however, Adnan Hodzic understood immediately that his life never was going to be the same.

It happened the first time his mother gathered him in her arms and ran with him down the streets of Sarajevo as bullets whizzed past on both sides. It was clear each night he lay in his bed and listened to the bombs explode and the ammunition fire, and the point was driven home each time he was reminded to stay in the basement of his family home so as not to risk his very life.

Eventually, his family was left with no choice but to make a drastic change. His mother took him and his sister to the United States while his father stayed behind to fight for Bosnia in its war with neighboring Serbia.